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Is climate change dead?

With so much recent media attention focused on healthcare and congressional town hall meetings, nary a word has surfaced about energy policy and climate change.

During his first State of the Union address earlier this year, President Obama included the issue along with financial reform and healthcare as his top domestic priorities. The talk of Washington remains the political impact of the healthcare town hall madness. Thus, the question on the table is, “Wither climate change?”

Ties to the topic
The House-passed bill in June included several pieces related to climate change: a cap and trade provision, energy efficiency provisions, an energy bank to create clean energy technologies, a 2020 emissions target and a renewable electricity standard, among others.

Immediately, members of the Senate were critical of the House bill on several fronts. Many were skeptical that a successful marketplace to limit greenhouse gas emissions can be possible. Republicans were quick to criticize overall costs to the consumer and the country, citing an increase in energy prices. Significantly, Senate Democrats from coal-producing and manufacturing states spoke against the bill.

Senate Democrats from agricultural states said farmers would be hurt by an increase in energy costs and fertilizer. Some senators felt it didn’t go far enough on international aid issues in light of the upcoming United Nations meetings on climate change. Jurisdictional conflicts among six Senate committees that claim ownership of this complex issue also slow action.

With Senate leadership backing away from its self-imposed, end-of-September deadlines, the outlook looks dim for passage of a comprehensive energy bill with cap and trade included. However, recent activity suggests the door may not be closed.

Work in progress
In mid-September, eight senators signed a letter suggesting legislative changes to the House bill to fund power companies to capture carbon from coal-powered plants. Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., is working, along with Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., on a Senate climate change bill. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., is working with several senators on a nuclear power provision to add to the legislation. Committees are holding hearings on the related climate change issues, and other senators are working to aid agriculture and to draft trade protections for manufacturers.

A broad coalition of climate change backers, called Clean Energy Works, is putting millions of dollars behind a media and grass-roots campaign – run by President Obama’s Iowa campaign director – to support legislative action on clean energy and climate change. Critics, too, have been organized and active. The National Association of Manufacturers and National Federation of Independent Business spent several million dollars worth of ads in states where they believe they can help influence potential Senate swing votes against the legislation.

White House plays part
The administration is also raising the issue’s profile through its actions. For instance, the White House is starting international climate negotiations at the State Department in advance of the United Nations climate change meeting in December in Copenhagen. Through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the White House announced an increase in the fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks. This was done based on a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that gave the EPA the power to regulate greenhouse gases. Other agencies are working to factor climate change into regulatory decisions. President Obama is also expected to discuss the issue at the U.N. climate summit meeting in New York.

Where there is political will, there is usually a legislative mechanism. It is hard to see either in light of criticisms from Democrats and Republicans regarding the cost of cap and trade on the U.S. economy and the increasing political vulnerability of some Democrats as Congress keeps one eye on the midterm elections of 2010. All of this is running up against the congressional calendar. The president’s stimulus package has passed, and healthcare reform is a possibility. Passing one major piece of legislation in a year is an accomplishment. Two is unusual; three is unknown territory.